Interview with Anne Poelina | Sustaining Intergenerational Guardianship and Equity for the Martuwarra Catchment

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2025.1.02

Keywords:

Martuwarra, governance, ancestral personhood, indigenous knowledge, sustainable livelihoods

Abstract

The Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) Council has been established by senior elders, including Anne Poelina, to represent different parts of the river. The interview explores the history of the Council and its goals for holistic development based on what they call “forever” economies. Dr. Poelina explains the Council’s diverse ways of promoting intergenerational equity through the Youth Council, their conservation plan with the nine native title groups and the reason the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) Council joined the Global Network of Water Museums (WAMU-NET) as a living museum. This interview also serves as an introduction to the Living Water Heritage project discussed in this issue of Blue Papers by Lachie Carracher.

How to Cite

Poelina, A., & Donkor, C. (2025). Interview with Anne Poelina | Sustaining Intergenerational Guardianship and Equity for the Martuwarra Catchment . Blue Papers, 4(1), 66–75. https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2025.1.02

Published

2025-07-09

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

challenges, concepts and new approaches

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Anne Poelina, Carlien Donkor

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Anne Poelina, Indigenous knowledges at the Nulungu Institute Research University of Notre Dame

Anne Poelina PhD, PhD, MEd, MPH&TM, is a citizen of Nyikina Warrwa (Indigenous) Nation. She currently serves as MA chair and senior research fellow of Indigenous knowledges at the Nulungu Institute Research University of Notre Dame. She is an adjunct professor in the College of Indigenous Education Futures, Arts & Society, Charles Darwin University, Darwin. Anne is the Murray Darling basin inaugural First Nations appointment to its independent Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences (2022) and inaugural chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council (2018). She is assistant commissioner of the National Water Initiative, Productivity Commission-Australia (2024) and also a member of Indigenous Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (2024). See www.annepoelina.com.

Carlien Donkor, African Studies Centre Leiden

Carlien Donkor is a PhD candidate at the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL), interested in traditional ingenuity and historical practices of living on and with water, and their positioning in inclusive development frameworks. Her experience as an architect and project manager, combines research, design and construction for climate-resilient and context-sensitive solutions. She was among the winners of the EU Sparks hackathon in which The Nettuniani proposal was awarded the best solution for climate adaptation. Other interests include community collaborations and multimedia installations.

References

RiverOfLife, Martuwarra, Anne Poelina, and Marlikka Perdrisat. 2024. “Ancient Wisdom Dreaming a Climate Chance.” In Traditional Knowledge and Climate Change edited by Anna Penteado, Shambhu Prasad Chakrabarty and Owais H. Shaikh, 3–19. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8830-3_1